Pittsburgh Steelers the pick is in logo on the video board during the first round at the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Statium on April 26, 2018 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Adding Fox Gives Huge Boost to NFL Draft Ratings

Fox, ESPN and the NFL Network combined for an 8.3 rating on Thursday night.

8 months ago

ESPN may not like it, but adding Fox to the NFL Draft’s broadcast team was a huge success.

According to SportsBusiness Daily, the combined overnight rating of Fox, ESPN, ESPN 2 and the NFL Network for the first round of the draft on Thursday night was 8.4.

Last year, when it was just ESPN and the NFL Network, the rating was 6.7 and this year’s mark was the highest for the first round since ESPN and NFLN combined for an 8.7 rating in 2014.

Individually, ESPN was still the leader with an overnight rating of 3.9 while Fox had a 2.9 and the NFL Network had a 1.5. That said, ESPN did see its rating drop from last year when it had a 4.8 without Fox being involved and poaching viewers.

Fox was able to broadcast the draft after inking a five-year deal for “Thursday Night Football,” which will now also be streamed on Amazon after the e-commerce giant renewed its digital deal with the NFL yesterday.